A 24-year-old from south Cork has won a €70,000 investment fund for his new business after being crowned Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur.
James Foody from Glanmire, developed a wearable device and a smartphone app which helps women assess and maximise their fertility across a monthly period.
The winning business Ayda, which is based in Glanmire and San Francisco, was one of 24 businesses to reach the finals of the competition.
Ayda was also awarded the prize for the Best Start-Up category. Foody gave his reaction to his win today:
The ‘Best New Idea’ award and €20,000 investment prize went to Blaine Doyle of GlowDX in Kilkenny and the ‘Best Established Business’ award and €30,000 investment prize went to James Keogh from Rathwood in Wicklow.
GlowDX aims to offer a cheaper way of diagnosing diseases in developing countries, while Rathwood is a retail entertainment company offering year-round events, and employing almost 200 people.
The awards were announced by Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton, and took place at Google's European Headquarters in Dublin.
"I’ve been personally inspired by the energy, commitment and ambition of these young business-people," he said. "By promoting entrepreneurship as a career choice, we can ensure that we start more businesses and ultimately create more jobs."
